Method and Apparatus for Environmental Sensing

Abstract

A method for verifying an alarm condition in an environmental sensing system includes monitoring data received from environmental sensors; detecting anomalous data received from one of the plurality of environmental sensors; determining the context in which the anomalous data was acquired is consistent with typical usage activities; and providing an alarm condition alert when the determined context is not consistent with typical activities. A system for intelligently monitoring environmental conditions includes environmental sensors configured to monitor first and second environmental conditions and to communicate with an intelligent analysis module. The intelligent analysis module is configured with logic to determine whether anomalous data has been collected by the environmental sensors, to determine the context in which the anomalous data was collected, to determine whether the anomalous data can be attributed to a routine activity, and to provide an alarm condition if the anomalous data cannot be attributed to a routine activity.

Description

Claims

1-10. (canceled)

11. A method for predicting an alarm condition in an environmental sensing system, comprising: monitoring data received from a plurality of sensors;detecting anomalous data received from one of the plurality of sensors;predicting, using the data received from at least one of the other sensors, that an alarm condition is likely to occur based on at least one of the other sensors; andproviding a notification or alert message that an alarm condition is expected to occur at a future time.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein an estimated time for when the alarm condition is expected to occur is determined.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the estimated time is included in the notification or alert message.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein one or more of the plurality of sensors is an environmental sensor.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the environmental sensor is selected from the group consisting of a temperature sensor, a light sensor, a humidity sensor, and a motion sensor.

16. A system for predicting an alarm condition, comprising: a first sensor configured to monitor a first condition and configured to communicate via a wired or wireless network;a second sensor configured to monitor a second condition and configured to communicate with an intelligent analysis module;and an intelligent analysis module configured to communicate with the first and second sensor and configured with logic to determine whether anomalous data has been collected by the first sensor, to predict if an alarm condition may be reached at a time in the future based on the expected reading of the second sensor, and if it is determined that an alarm condition is likely to be reached at a time in the future, providing a notification or alert message.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the intelligent analysis module is configured to determine an estimated time for when the alarm condition is expected to occur.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the estimated time is included in the notification or alert message.

19. The system according to claim 16, wherein one or more of the plurality of sensors is an environmental sensor.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the environmental sensor is selected from the group consisting of: a temperature sensor, a light sensor, a humidity sensor, and a motion sensor.